Your Right to Know

WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner refused to say yesterday whether a comprehensive
immigration overhaul should include a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, declaring
that the House debate is “not about me.”

Boehner, appearing on CBS’
Face the Nation, dodged repeated attempts to get him to spell out his personal views on a
path to citizenship for as many as 11 million people illegally in the United States, a major point
of contention between the Republican-run House and the Democratic-led Senate.

“It’s not about me; it’s not about what I want,” said Boehner, a West Chester Republican. “This
is about allowing the House to work its will.”

The Senate has passed a sweeping, bipartisan immigration bill that includes a pathway to
citizenship, which Republican opponents have called an “amnesty” that would reward lawbreakers and
encourage more people to enter the country illegally.

Boehner said taking a personal stand on the issue would make it harder for him to find consensus
on immigration in the House. “If I come out and say, ‘I’m for this, and I’m for that,’ all I’m
doing is making my job harder,” he said. “My job in this process is to facilitate a discussion and
to facilitate a process.”

Boehner said the Senate bill will not pass the House, and he reiterated that the House will
tackle the issue in smaller “chunks” that will include stricter provisions on border
protection.

“We want to deal with this in chunks — chunks that the members can deal with and grapple with,
and frankly, chunks that the American people can get their arms around,” he said.

With polls showing public approval of Congress at near-record lows, Boehner was asked how he
felt to have presided over the least-productive and one of the least-popular Congresses. “We should
not be judged by how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal,” he
said.

Republicans have made repeal of President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul one of the party’s
priorities.